The present invention is directed to a system for targeted braking of vehicles, such as railroad trains.
It is desirable or even necessary, particularly for the automatic operation of vehicles such as railroad trains, that the vehicles come to a stop at a precise point at loading stations and the like in railroad stations. This exact stopping should be achieved from full speed insofar as possible, that is, it need not be obtainable by slowly creeping to the stopping point. Such an exactly targeted stopping in railroad stations is desirable for example, for commuter passenger traffic and can even be absolutely necessary when the individual cars can only be entered or exited when the train stops at an absolutely specific point in the station (such as, for example, in St. Petersburg). This type of station has no actual platform but, rather, a track tunnel of the train is connected to a tunnel for waiting passengers only by individual small cross-connecting tunnels in front of whose end a respective car door of the stopped train is located in the track tunnel.
It is required given such a targeted braking that the automatic operational unit of the incoming train is informed at sufficiently close distances or time intervals about the locations at which the train is situated at the moment. For example, light barriers can be employed for this purpose, the automatic operational unit of the train receiving a signal when they are traversed. It is not only necessary in rugged rail operation, but also in the operation of trolleys and the like that the signal means have extraordinary ruggedness, durability and insensitivity to contamination. This is because the operating reliability and safety is critically dependent on the effectiveness of such route markings and their failure could lead to dangerous situations or even to serious accidents.